Republicans Don’t Really Want Immigration Reform.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first of many hearings on comprehensive immigration reform. In the seven and a half hour hearing, senators debated 32 of the three hundred proposed amendments to the bill, and adopted 21 of the changes. The proposals ranged from plans to correct technical immigration issues, to Sen. Ted Cruz’s amendment to triple the number of border control agents, to Sen. Jeff Sessions’ proposal to construct a 700 mile, double-layered fence along our Southern border.

Thankfully, most of the extreme amendments were voted down, but there’s still cause for concern over the proposals they accepted. One of the most contentious changes was Republican Senator Chuck Grassley’s mandate, that the Department of Homeland Security submit a plan to stop 90 percent of illegal border crossings in high-risk areas, before undocumented individuals already living here can even apply for so-called “provisional immigrant” status. This provision is only slightly better than Grassley’s rejected, poison-pill amendment, which set unattainable benchmarks that DHS had to meet before any pathway to citizenship would be considered.

After losing the Hispanic vote in the 2012 election, Republicans have attempted to paint themselves as pro-immigration, but it’s all an act. The racist and unrealistic GOP amendments in this legislation show they have no real desire to fix our nation’s immigration system. As the Senate Judiciary Committee debates the hundreds of remaining amendments over the coming months, we must prevent these poison-pill provisions from making immigration reform meaningless. Call your Senators and tell them to fight these poison-pill amendments, and support provisions that actually fix our broken immigration system.

One of the most startling trends to come out of the wreckage of the 2007-2008 financial crisis is the explosion of Wall Street firms buying up and renting out property all across the country. This is insane -- it’s a recipe for disaster.

About Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartmann, progressive national and internationally syndicated talkshow host (also simulcast as TV in 40 million homes by Dish Network/Free Speech TV), and New York Times bestselling, 4-times project Censored winning author of 24 books in print in 17 languages on five continents. Leonardo DiCaprio was inspired by Thom's book "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" to make the movie "The 11th Hour" (in which Thom stars), and Warner Brothers is making a movie starring DiCaprio from the book Thom co-authored with Lamar Waldron, "Legacy of Secrecy."